One of the bigger announcements was that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) would appear in Captain America 3 - subtitled "Civil War" - where he'll go head-to-head with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) for some yet-to-be-revealed reason. But before the can do any of that, he'll have to appear in The Avengers 2, where it is presumed that he'll create Ultron and his robot minions, all of whom will ultimately betray the superhero team.Robert Downey Jr. recently spoke to Marvel.com about Iron Man 3, that film's lingering effects in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Joss Whedon's talents, and much more.

On Iron Man 3, RDJ said:

"I thought that the third 'Iron Man' was about [Tony] transcending his dependence on the merits of continuing to wear your wound. That was what [director] Shane [Black] and I thought was the real win, that he throws that thing that had become a dependency away. Because that was the question I was always asking, why doesn’t he get those shards out [of his chest]? It’s dangerous.

"It reminds me of all that stuff, particularly as you get a little older or if you have any existential queries whatsoever. Why aren’t I dealing with that which is going to destroy me any second anyway? The armor was kind of an extension of that. There were so many suits, but I think he realizes that making all the suits in the world, which is what he had been doing, still didn’t [help him]. His focus [now] is more on how can we make it so that there’s no problem to begin with. That there’s a bouncer at our planet’s rope.

" [...] I think what [Tony's] trying to do is set up shop where eventually this can be like with our visual effects guy, Chris Townsend. Eventually you just have to hand this over to the vendors so they can finish the job. That’s kind of what Tony’s thinking."

Is this the impetus for creating an army of drones and Ultron himself? Does Tony create these robots as a means to protect the world from the bigger threats, only to have them turn on The Avengers? It seems pretty likely. What exactly goes wrong and how it all plays out - well, we'll have to wait to find out.

RDJ went on to praise both writer/director Joss Whedon and The Avengers: Age of Ultron:

"First of all, [Joss is] a good writer. I always tend to think, generally speaking, is this a movie I want to see? Because all the fine points are going to get worked out. This time, I think that from jump I thought wow, this is what I hadn’t figured out beforehand. This is what ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ should be. I was done with the first draft and I said, ‘Cool. I like it.’ [Producer] Kevin [Feige] was like, ‘Wait, what did you just say?’ [laughs] And [Joss] is continuing to write, even as we’re setting up shots. He’s bringing back in a line that was in the first draft or whatever.

"This time around, I just want to say in summary it’s been fun. We all have become close. It just seems like we’re all genuinely developing relationships with each other. And I think the start and end of it is in trusting Joss. That he really, really knows what he’s doing."

In ten or twenty years, film historians and movie fans may very well look back on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and say that Joss Whedon's involvement is what really took these films to the next level. Though Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World haves their share of detractors, the other films to follow The Avengers - Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy - have been extremely well-reviewed, with Rotten Tomatoes scores hovering around 90%.

The rumor is that Whedon will be done with Marvel afterThe Avengers 2 because of the exhaustive toll these huge movies have taken on him. The Russo brothers - directors of Cap 2 - might replace him for The Avengers: Infinity War. And while they certainly could end up creating an amazing superhero team-up all the same, it'll still be a shame not to see Whedon close out the series in his own way.

What say you, Screen Ranters? Are you looking forward to The Avengers 2? Drop us a line in the comments.